Mother complains son out in cold for school fire drill in Lancaster

Friday

Jan 10, 2014 at 6:00 AMJan 10, 2014 at 6:01 AM

By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

LANCASTER — A parent's complaint about her autistic son being sent out in subfreezing weather without a coat during a fire drill has led the Dr. Franklin Perkins School to say the drill should have been postponed until warmer weather.

The mother of the 15-year-old, who has "sensory issues" because of Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, said he thought it was a cruel joke. Students in the Janeway Education Center building were sent out during the fire drill without coats Tuesday, while teachers came out wearing coats.

The parent, who asked that she remain anonymous, said her son was also upset that David A. Cook, the school's education director, not only was wearing a coat but also had a cup of coffee.

The 118-year-old private special education school serves students from kindergarten through Grade 12 who have social, psychiatric, emotional and executive-function issues.

In an emailed statement, Mr. Cook said school administrators considered delaying the drill until better weather, but decided to hold it for the older students because they would be outside for fewer than four minutes and most staff and students would be able to grab their coats. He said some students and staff had coats. But others did not.

"In one case, a staff member collected as many of the children's coats as possible and distributed them to the students," the statement read.

He said there was a small electrical fire at an elementary school in Grafton earlier that day and students had to board a bus without coats so they could be taken to a nearby school. He said that was also taken into consideration in the decision to go ahead with the drill.

"It was sunny by afternoon. There was little wind. And the decision was made given all that we knew and with the Grafton emergency in mind, to go ahead … That can mean four minutes of discomfort in a drill, but it may have dividends in a future emergency," Mr. Cook said in the email. "All that said, it would have been advisable to delay the drill to later in the week."

The school likely could have delayed the drill until early spring and met the requirement. The state fire code requires public and private schools to do four fire drills each year, timed at the discretion of the school. The Lancaster school's fire drills are regulated by Illinois-based The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals and behavioral health care facilities.

The commission said such facilities are required to hold one fire drill each quarter.

"The date of the drill is up to the discretion of the organization. Please note, individuals served may, but need not be, evacuated during drills," said Katie Looze, a spokeswoman for The Joint Commission, in an email.

The mother of the teen said the school's executive director, Charles P. Conroy, told her that fire drills are held at the school each month.

Calls to Mr. Conroy were not readily returned.

Dania Jekel, executive director of the Asperger's Association of New England, said she doesn't think it's a bad idea for a school such as Perkins to have additional fire drills because some students at the school might need to be reminded and be given more experience with the route to follow.

"But it probably would have been better to have waited until a slightly warmer day," she said. "There are some kids with Asperger's who are particularly sensitive to cold. It may have been particularly difficult for them."

Fire Chief Michael J. Hanson said that while he does not have anything to do with fire drills at the Perkins school, he thinks it was too cold on Tuesday for the drill.

"Personally, I wouldn't have done one in the cold weather. I would have postponed it, or the kids should have been allowed to grab their coats," he said.